New Waitrose store is to be its biggest in Scotland

Waitrose is to open its largest store in Scotland as the supermarket chain continues its aggressive expansion into one of the country's wealthiest areas.

The upmarket food group has applied to create its first newbuild store in Newton Mearns outside Glasgow with a scheduled opening in February 2011.

The store in Newton Mearns marks a "giant leap forward" for the brand, which until now has never built a store from scratch in Scotland. It will be situated within the new Greenlaw Neighbourhood Centre in Crookfur Road.

If agreed by East Renfrewshire Council, the 25,000sq ft store would be almost twice the size of the one in Glasgow's west end that is due to open on November 12. The Newton Mearns store would be the brand's fourth in Scotland. The food shop arm of John Lewis Partnership already has two stores in Edinburgh at Morningside and Comely Bank .

Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose, said: "Newton Mearns is a further demonstration of our ambition to make our brand far more accessible to Scottish consumers.

"We have wanted to bring Waitrose to Glasgow for a long time, and are eagerly anticipating the opening of our very first shop in the city. The Greenlaw development will be another welcome addition to the Waitrose estate "